Di Canio commiserates with 'furious' fans

Paolo Di Canio insists he understands the level of Sunderland fans' anger after watching his side crumble to a 3-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.

The Italian was left despondent as goals from former Sunderland player Stephane Sessegnon, Liam Ridgewell and Morgan Amalfitano compounded them to a fourth Premier League defeat of the season.

Di Canio walked over to the travelling fans after the full-time whistle and gestured for them to keep their chins up, before stating he would be "furious" if he had watched the performance from the stands.

"The fans boo and insult and it is a part of the game. If I was in their position I would be furious," Di Canio told BBC Sport. "If we would have won it would have been a different reaction. But we have to accept it.

"As a strong man as I am I am not worried, my head is always up, maybe if we win against Peterborough in the next round maybe that can give us an extra lift.

"We need to take the best, which is very little, from today's game, and go again. We need to be quick because we are not a team that have been together two or three years, but I really believe that if we can get a result together we can come together.

"The players have to help themselves and myself. We are down very deep but we have to make sure that we get a lift."

Sunderland suffered further misery as Steven Fletcher left the field with a suspected dislocated shoulder.